December 2012 Monthly Wrap-Up: Books and Reviews
Ye Grande Olde TBR(e) Challenge Update
I started December with 251 unread books sitting around my house. And I ended with … *drumroll* …241! Reading-wise, this month was absolutely abysmal – all of three non-audio, non-graphic novel, actual Book-books. I’ve been gearing up to move, and that process did not leave a lot of time or mental energy for reading. But, packing up all my books (16 boxes’s worth coming with me, which includes cookbooks and textbooks, plus another 5 that I am storing at my parents’ house until I’m living somewhere more permanently) made me take a good long look at my shelves, and do some purging. I also didn’t get a ton of books for Christmas, so even though I didn’t read much, those TBR numbers are coming down! 241’s the lowest it’s been since 2009. Good job, self!
…anyways, let’s take a look at the breakdown:
Neutral books – Read, but don’t affect the TBR pile
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Audiobooks |
 |
 |
 |
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Read But Not Owned (Books) |
 |
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Read But Not Owned (Graphic Novels) |
 |
 |
 |
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Re-Reads |
 |
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Changes to the TBR pile
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Read from my TBR pile (huzzah!) |
 |
 |
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Added and then read (um… huzzah?) |
 |
|
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Other removals from the TBR pile (um… huzzah?) |
||
 |
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| Non-TBR acquisitions (storage-space-related shame!) | |
  – Birds of Florida by Stan Tekiela |
 – National Audubon Society Field Guide to Florida by Peter Alden, Rick Cech, and Gil Nelson |
 – A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson |
|
| Added to my TBR pile (all-around shame!) | |
 – Between Man and Beast: A Tale of Exploration and Evolution by Monte Reel |
 – A Murder for Her Majesty by Beth Hilgartner |
 – Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version by Philip Pullman |
 – Bloodshot by Cherie Priest |
 – One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer by Nathaniel Fick |
 – The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia |
| Added to my eTBR pile (non-storage-space-related shame!) | |
 – Graveminder by Melissa Marr |
 – Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr |
 – The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers |
* Pursuant to the discussion on this post, I’ve decided to create an eTBR pile for e-books for which I actually pay money. I’m not adding them into my total TBR numbers, but I have to fess up about them somewhere. Keeps me honest. |
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My December stats stink too but kudos to you for purging some books!
Thanks! It comes with the moving, I think.
I had to have a come to Jesus moment with my TBR and realized that it went up 20 books in 6 months, even though I read around 40 books in that time. Oi vey.
Congrats on the book purge!
Frankie – When I started Ye Grande Olde TBR(e) Challenge, I had 171 books, and vowed that I was going to get it under 100. Of course, it immediately went up the next month and has only rarely gone down.
I wanted to thank you for all the great reviews and your awesome Excel book tracking file that you update every year. I am a huge fan and was wondering if your going to update it for 2013? One thing I ran into it this year (I read many graphic novels and comic collections) was needing more than 300 item entries. I am not so great with excel and was wondering if in the new edition you could increase the total number of items I can add or maybe let me know how I can do this myself. I would be more than willing to donate via paypal or a tip jar, as this tool has really helped me track my book reading.
Thanks again,
Thaddeus
Thaddeus – Thanks so much! I’ve been very, very busy the past month or so, plus I haven’t added any features to the spreadsheet, so I’m not posting an updated version. BUT I think I can help you add lines to your sheet without too much trouble.
Somewhere in the middle of the sheet, select a range of rows. For example if you want to add 100 lines, click on row 101 (the number to the left of the sheet), hold shift and click on row 200. Copy these cells (Edit > Copy) then select Insert > Insert Copied Cells.
Next, select a row somewhere above where you did the copy/insert (say, row 90). In the lower left corner of the blue highlighting showing you that the row is selected, there is a little box; your mouse cursor should change to a hand when you’re over it. Click and drag down to what was originally book number 300. Excel should auto-number the book numbers so it’s now 400, and should change the other formulas accordingly.
Hope that helps!